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Star Wars “The Force Awakens:” Rey’s Jakku Speeder by Hasbro

OK, I’ve had some sleep, the coffee is on, and I thought I’d kick off the second half of 5-POA’PALOOSA with a vehicle. Rey’s Speeder was one of the first toys from The Force Awakens line that I remember seeing on the pegs. This thing was everywhere, and yet somehow I never managed to buy it. I may have been observing a vehicle-buying moratorium at the time due to lack of space, but those never last very long. Like the First Order Snowspeeder that I looked at yesterday, this toy was re-issued and subsequently clearanced out pretty cheap and I eventually buckled and bought the damn thing. Was it a good move? Let’s find out…

The speeder comes in a pretty good sized box and is designed to either sit on the shelf or hang from a peg. Let’s take a moment to drink in that fantastic artwork on the front. Some people will have you believe that great box art died in the 80’s, maybe the 90’s, but Hasbro has really been killing it with some of the box and card art lately, and this is a prime example of that. Rey is speeding away from an explosion. It’s colorful, it’s kenetic, and just looking at is making me so pumped to open this thing up right now and start having crazy adventures. The front panel also has a window that shows off the Rey figure that’s included. And just like the Speeder I looked at yesterday, this one comes in a re-issue box branded on the top with the Rogue One art. This one doesn’t require any assembly, and comes out of the box all ready to go, but let’s start with the figure.

This is Rey in her full on scavenger gear, which is supposed to be mostly the same as the regular Rey only she’s wearing her head wrap and goggles. It appears to share most parts from the carded Rey, but there are some notable differences besides the shoulder wrap and head coverings. This one features sculpted gloves on her hands, and there’s some nice detail in the pack on her belt. I think they did a nice job on the coverings for her head and shoulders, although it does maker her a bit taller than regular Rey and it nixes one of those five points of articulation. She also has a weird orange thing coming off her left shoulder and I have no idea what the hell it’s supposed to be. I don’t ever recall seeing it as part of her outfit, and it’s certainly not part of my Hot Toys figure.

Rey comes with one accessory and that’s her trademark staff, which appears to be the same one that came with the single carded figure. Overall, I think this figure is pretty solid, albeit not exceptional. It’s also a good pack-in for the Speeder, as the only other way to get a masked Rey in this scale is to go for the 3 3/4-inch Black Series figure, which gave you the best of both worlds. I never bothered to dip into that line, because I can’t be bothered to go to Walmart and hunt them. Maybe when they start showing up on Vintage Cards, I’ll pick some up. Anyway, on to the Speeder!

Straight away, I’ll point out how much more visually pleasing this thing is than the Snowspeeder. I don’t want to make this review all about comparisons, but this one just feels like Hasbro put a lot more work into it. I guess that makes sense, since I’d regard this as the first iconic vehicle from the film, whereas the Snowspeeder is mostly from a deleted scene and its design is instantly forgettable. The sculpt here is quite nice and features some sharp panel lines, rivets, the front grill, and a lot of wires and hoses snaking around under the pilot seat. There’s also a big dent in the front that’s reminiscent of Luke’s Landspeeder from A New Hope. I also dig how they made it so the vehicle can stand on its own without a separate piece, although a clear plastic stand to make it look like it’s hovering would have been a cool bonus.

There’s a soft plastic net that pegs into the side to hold all of Rey’s scavenged junk. The junk is sculpted all as one piece, so there’s really no reason to take the net off. Some additional paint apps on the net would have been cool, but I still think it looks pretty good. What’s that big button for? We’ll come back to that. There are also clips above the net to store Rey’s staff when she’s driving. The dashboard features some sculpted detail, but no paint apps or stickers. The windscreen is cast in clear plastic and at first I thought it had a dusting spray effect, but it turns out it was just a film that developed from being in the box so long! It’s worth noting that the panels on the back do articulate slightly. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or just a byproduct of the construction. I guess they could be rudders or assist in breaking, but generally I think they’re just supposed to be stabilizers.

The coloring here is where this little Speeder triumphs over the nearly non-existant deco of the Snowspeeder. The orange plastic looks great, and you also get some lighter orange paint in the border lines, which run around the edges of both sides of the main body. The driver area features both bare gray plastic, as well as some silver and brown paint, and you there’s some dry brushing to look like paint wear on the rear flaps and the main body. The weathering certainly isn’t high art, but it’s nice that they did it and I think it adds a lot to the vehicles character.

For a 5-POA figure, Rey sits surprisingly well on this thing. There are foot pegs on the pedals, so all you have to do is plug her feet into them and clip her hands onto the handlebars. Not bad!

So, that button on the net controls the only real play feature on this speeder and that’s a hidden missile launcher. Press it once to have it deploy from the top of the body, and press it again to fire off the missile. I hear tell some folks had issues with this added gimmick, but I really dig it. Granted, it’s probably not canon, but it doesn’t really hurt the toy if you don’t want to use it. On the other hand Jakku looked like a dangerous place, and that cannon looks like it would have come in handy on plenty of occasions.

I’ve got to say, I really like this little speeder. I seem to recall this toy launching at about $25, but it was almost always on sale or rollback or some other shit around here for $20. Like the First Order Snowspeeder, I picked up this Rogue One-branded reissue on Amazon for $9. Unlike the Snowspeeder, I would have been perfectly fine paying full price for this little vehicle. It’s fun, it doesn’t take up much room, and it’ll look great on my Episode 7 shelf if I ever get around to actually displaying my 3 3/4-inch Star Wars figures again. In the meantime, I’m going to grab another mug of coffee, and if you’ll join me back here in about an hour, I’ll have some more content for Star Wars Weekend!

I’m going to try and hold off. Although I may just get the dinos after all. I was watching some video reviews last night, and I really don’t mind them. Your reviews don’t hurt either. I’m sure Dr. Wu will come out with a sword kit. He’d be missing out if he doesn’t.